A fictionalized account of the reallife adventure of the Sager family Travelling with a wagon train from Missouri to Oregon things are going well for the Sagers until father Sager dies from blood poisoning following an Indian attack and mother Sager dies soon afterward from pneumonia The leaders of the wagon train decide to send the children back but the oldest John who had been described by all the adults as lazy and worthless decides to lead his siblings through the wilderness to complete the journey their parents started